AA, United: Fix ATC Delay Problems

AA, United: Fix ATC Delay Problems

By Barbara Cook

The chief executives of American and United Airlines this week issued a call for swift government action to resolve what they described as a crisis in the nation's air traffic control system.

Federal Aviation Administration administrator Jane Garvey, along with the American and United officials, addressed delegates at the Washington, D.C., Global Summit on International Aviation Infrastructure sponsored by George Washington University, and agreed that modernizing the air traffic control system is the biggest challenge facing all elements of the aviation community.

"Modernizing the air traffic control system is an extraordinary task, certainly not for the faint of heart," Garvey said. She emphasized that the U.S. aviation community has achieved a consensus for the first time on the elements on modernization. While expressing confidence that the United States has created a good aviation system with a strong safety record, Garvey pointed to "trouble signals" in the system. "The delays we in the U.S. experienced this past summer show that the system is under strain. And we have taken actions to address delays. But these are near-term. They are not a silver bullet."

"This means that operational capability is more important than chasing technology," she said. "We cannot wait for the ultimate system. There will always be technological developments. The key is to get something in place."

AA chairman Don Carty told conference delegates that the national debate on air traffic congestion has gone "from finger-pointing to outright ugliness." He noted that "the sad irony" of the situation is that "while the airlines, FAA and Congress are all scrambling to avoid blame, or protect their own individual interests, the truth is that our real interests are very aligned. Unfortunately, instead of collaborating to find solutions, we spend most of our time being mad at each other."

While all parties are spending time 'being mad,' Carty said that "the skies are getting more and more crowded, our air traffic control system is falling farther and farther behind the modernization curve--we've got more flights, carrying more people, being delayed longer and longer--and the public is getting angrier and angrier."

Carty praised Garvey for accepting responsibility for her agency's role in the flight delay equation. He noted that Garvey has also focused on solutions "rather than fixing blame."

Despite criticism of airline hub and spoke systems as part of the reason for the escalating delays, Carty defended the system, saying airlines "won't put the hub-and-spoke genie back in the bottle."

Carty said American is taking steps to reduce the long-term delay problem, including participation in the effort to move forward on free flight initiatives. Yet, he said, the solution to the delay problem will have many elements, including a consistent and predictable stream of financing for the development of aviation infrastructure, cultural and structural reform of FAA, and "full, open and honest cooperation" among the airlines, air traffic controllers, pilots and FAA that leads to agreement in certain areas. While ATC privatization "may or may not be the answer, it is certainly worth taking a hard look at the experiences of Canada, Germany, Australia and New Zealand--to name a few--to see what lessons we can apply to our own situation," he added.

United president Rono Dutta, addressing the same summit, called for a special task force to be convened that would recommend fundamental FAA reform to bring about change in the air traffic control system.

Dutta said that during 1999 so far, United has experienced nearly 900,000 delay minutes due to ATC flow control--the equivalent of more than a year and a half of lost time. Total ATC delays this year will cost United $373 million, he said, an increase of 22 percent over last year.